The invention relates to a safety attachment for orthodontic wires and pliers to apply the safety attachment.
Orthodontic braces consist of brackets that are affixed to teeth, and orthodontic wires, which will simply be referred to hereinafter as wires for the sake of brevity that attach to those brackets to deliver a controlled force to move and guide the teeth, such that they come into the desired alignment. At the beginning of treatment, the wires used are of small diameter, as small as 0.3 mm or less, and are very flexible. As treatment progresses the wires used may be of larger diameter and thus be less flexible.
Using the small diameter wires at the start of treatment in particular poses three problems, as follows.
1. The flexibility of the wires allows them to distort and pull out of the bracket on the last tooth in the dental arch usually a molar, with a tube type of orthodontic bracket.
2. When placing the wires, excess wire is clipped off from behind the last most tooth. Pliers designed to cut and hold the excised wire fragment, so that the fragment can safely be removed from the mouth, can fail to adequately hold very thin wires such that the fragment of wire is dropped in the back of the patient's mouth and it is then difficult to locate and recover.3. As teeth align during the orthodontic treatment, less length of wire is needed and excess wire protrudes at the back behind the last most tooth. This can occur between appointments with the orthodontist and can cause ulceration to the cheeks of the patient, even if the end of the wire is curved into a loop. In addition, it is difficult to access the wire at the back of the mouth in order to adequately turn it into a loop. Furthermore, modern flexible-alloy wires resist deformation and do not readily accept the imposition of a shape-change, making it difficult to obtain adequate curvature to create a loop that makes the wire safe.
All three problems pose a health risk to orthodontic patients and generate emergency visits, which increase the workload of the orthodontist. A solution to these problems is therefore highly desirable.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a safety attachment for orthodontic wires and pliers to apply the attachment, which mitigate the above described problems.